So its gonna be tough not arresting and hassling people over cannabis use and sales? PLEASE! Vancouver has out right ignored Federal Government and its archaic laws in favour of helping people and licensing. If Vancouver Municipality can ignore Federal Laws and Mayor Gregor Robertson is not going to prison then neither should anyone yet all across Canada AND Calgary people are, so lets not applaud this trendy Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshr too much.

Calgary’s mayor blasted Canada Day as “the stupidest possible day” for the federal government to make cannabis legal and said he believes Albertans should be 21 before they’re allowed to purchase marijuana for recreational use.

I feel some more context is important as Nenshi has had more to say seems relevant.

Canada’s premiers discuss delaying the legalization of marijuana

Details such as traffic safety, age of majority and health impacts need to be better understood, Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister says.

Manatoba Premier Brian Pallister also known as Manitoba’s Biggest Asshole

It’s time to take a deep breath and put pot on the back burner for an extra year, says Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister.

He’s trying to persuade his provincial and territorial counterparts at their annual conference to ask Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to delay the legalization of cannabis 12 months to July 1, 2019.

Is Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister really so detached from reality that he would suggest another year of harassment, imprisoning and criminalizing people over use of a harmless plant? Cannabis should outright be decriminalized but then what would we do without all the criminals created and what would all the Police do? Does anyone buy into these liars and their monopoly and control stalls. People are being criminalized people like me, Veterans, disabled, mothers and fathers and Canadians have spoken they want it decriminalized.

Speaking for Quebec, Premier Philippe Couillard said a delay would be “fine” but he isn’t expecting one.

“We’ve heard the prime minister say he was very firm on July 1… so we’re working under the assumption that this will be the date. A lot of work needs to be done.”

Justin Trudeau betrayed Canadian’s cannabis culture already with the looming #fakelegalization. People are still living in fear, terrorized by its own government for wanting to be healthy and without pain many like myself seriously scared any day now the police will kick my door in and traumatize my child over the plants I grow for raw cannabis use. To think these Parliamentary Clowns are actually trowing around the idea of another year of terror and arrests is sickening yet with a close examination of so called legalization one can see arrest will not likely slow and may even increase.

]]>https://canadiancannabis.com/canadas-premiers-discuss-delaying-legalization-marijuana/feed/0Ways how cannabis affects the digestive systemhttps://canadiancannabis.com/ways-cannabis-affects-digestive-system/
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Ways how cannabis affects the digestive system

Michael Jacobs – Guest Writer

Ways how cannabis affects the digestive system

Do you suffer from stomach issues? You may be happy to know that your favorite herb (cannabis of course) has many positive effects on the digestive system. While there are some misconceptions about medical marijuana and some deny the positive effects of it on the digestive system, the truth is, there’s lots of evidence that shows that pot can increase the appetite, alleviate nausea, calm the bowels, and more.

Don’t believe it? In order to truly understand how cannabis provides relief from digestive disorders, it’s important that you know how it engages with the body.

And, to help you do just that, keep reading for a comprehensive breakdown of how pot affects the digestive system.

The Endocannabinoid System

The active compound in pot (THC) interacts with our cells through something called the endocannabinoid system (ECS). This is a huge communication network in the body that is comprised of cannabinoid receptors, enzymes, and chemical compounds called endocannabinoids.

The endocannabinoid system is responsible for a lot of functions within the body like the regulation of pain, mood, mobility, sleep, immune function, metabolism, and reproduction. It is also responsible for the interactions between the immune system, gut, and the brain.

The ECS and The Gut

The digestive system is one of the most complex networks in the body. Not only are the brain and the gut closely linked, but the gut is also home to 80% of the immune system and trillions of microflora. In other words, a healthy gut is essential to a healthy body.

The endocannabinoid system is vital to the regulation of digestive processes like satiety, hunger, and appetite. And, when THC is introduced to this system, it can have a very positive effect. This is especially true for individuals who suffer from gastrointestinal illnesses like:

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS): No one really knows what causes IBS but we do know that inflammation in the gut is a huge part of the equation. IBS can cause either constipation, diarrhea, or both. And, while cannabis can help with inflammation, those with diarrhea specifically may be able to benefit from THC’s ability to slow motility (how long it takes for food to go through the body). Furthermore, a study done in 2005 found that pot can minimize intestinal spasms for those who suffer from IBS.

Celiac disease: Research has shown that cannabinoid receptors have the ability to heal damage to the intestinal lining caused by diseases like celiac disease and diverticulitis.

Cannabis Boosts the Appetite

Just about every pot lover is familiar with a phenomenon called munchies. Whether you are using a portable vaporizer, edibles or just cannabis infused drinks, munchies are a sure thing to happen. And, if you aren’t so inclined, the munchies are best described as the seemingly inescapable drive to eat everything in sight.

Many of us take this as an inevitability when consuming marijuana edibles, flowers, or pot in general. But, it’s actually a little deeper than that.

THC also triggers the release of dopamine, a pleasure hormone. In other words, cannabis not only makes you hungry, it also increases the pleasure you get from eating food. And, that is why consuming pot makes you want to eat heaps of food in one sitting.

This is fabulous news for anyone who suffers from appetite loss, whether it stems from chemotherapy or a stress-filled life.

Cannabis May Calm Inflamed Intestines

Suffering from diarrhea? There are studies that show that cannabis may be able to help.

It’s widely known that cannabis has strong anti-nausea properties. This is due to pot’s effect on the central nervous system, which plays a huge role in calming nausea and vomiting.

Furthermore, the endocannabinoid system has a calming effect on the vomiting response. This is just two of the reasons why pot is so highly recommended for cancer patients who are undergoing chemotherapy.

As you can see, cannabis’ anti-inflammatory properties are highly beneficial for those who suffer from certain digestive ailments. So much so that, when it comes to a healthy digestive system, it’s starting to look like pot is an essential part of a good diet. And, what’s more? If you or a loved one suffer from digestive issues, cannabis may be one of the lowest risk treatments out there. All these advantages are why many researchers believe that we need more studies on cannabinoids and how they affect gastrointestinal disorders. Don’t you agree?

10 Reasons Marijuana is Better than Alcohol

Michael Jacobs – Guest Writer

Cannabis legalization is growing throughout America after decades of demonization. Alcohol doesn’t have the same stigma, at least not after Prohibition, and that era is barely in living memory. New users of cannabis have to overcome all of the negative press that the drug has gotten from the authorities.

One way to start doing that is to compare the effects of cannabis and alcohol and see which might be better. Both have been used as a recreational drug for centuries and we’re comfortable with the use of alcohol as long as people don’t overimbibe and do stupid things under its influence. There are many advantages to cannabis consumption that alcohol consumption doesn’t share. Naturally, we’re a little biased, but we’d like to explain our reasons why cannabis is a better and safer drug than alcohol.

No hangover!
Anyone who drinks alcohol to excess quickly learns the feeling of a hangover (unless they’re genetically lucky!) For those fortunate enough to have not had it, symptoms include dry mouth, dehydration, achiness, sensitivity to noise and light, and poor motor function. The usual cure is time, a big glass of water, and B-vitamins, things the body needs after processing alcohol out of your system.

Cannabis doesn’t deplete the body of nutrients while processing THC. However, very large doses can result in the high continuing at a low-grade level the next day. This is sometimes referred to as a weed hangover.

No liver damage
Alcohol drinking over long periods of time will ruin your liver. The liver can only handle so much alcohol at once. During the process of eliminating alcohol, a hazardous compound called acetaldehyde is created that damages liver cells. Over time, this leads to fatty liver disease and eventually cirrhosis. Anything more than two drinks in a day risks enough liver damage over time to pose a health threat.

Can’t fatally overdose
Alcohol is fatal in large doses, though it is possible to build up an incredible tolerance. The usual blood alcohol concentration level to risk death is 0.40. Half of adults who reach that level die, known in toxicology as the LD50 level. The actual amount that will kill you will vary from person to person and on what you’re drinking.

In contrast, the theoretical LD50 for THC is around 15-70 grams (research is spotty). Consider that most doses of cannabis only contain around 2-3 milligrams of THC, you’d have to smoke around 5000 doses at a sitting to even reach the lower end of that estimated LD50. You might get absurdly stoned, but you’re not going to die from smoking cannabis alone.

Anyone can take it
Alcohol may be drunk worldwide, but there are races that have a harder time processing alcohol than others. About a third of people in Asia have genetics that let them process alcohol into acetaldehyde quite fast, meaning they don’t get drunk easily. However, the same genetics prevent the breakdown of acetaldehyde as fast as other humans.

This leads to a form of alcohol flushing sometimes called “Asian flushing”. Symptoms include flushing of the face, fast heart rate, nausea, and headaches. Presumably, it also means faster liver damage over time. If it is hard for you to get drunk or you feel these effects when you drink, cannabis could be a much safer way to get intoxicated.

Less violence
Ask any police officer and they’ll tell you they’d much rather deal with someone stoned than someone who is drunk. Cannabis users are famously relaxed and non-violent. Even if they have a paranoid reaction, they’re not likely to want to fight. Alcohol, on the other hand, is quite closely linked to violent behavior. People often lose control of their emotions when they are drunk. Also, they can swing from happy to angry really fast. This leads to much danger.

Medicinal uses
The way that cannabis got its foot in the door for legalization is through recognition of its medical properties. It is useful in treating a wide range of medical conditions from glaucoma to the wasting associated with cancer. A simple google search will bring up hundreds of studies and case anecdotes from people who have ingested cannabis via vaporizers to deal with medical issues.

Alcohol is primarily used as a disinfectant and in certain rare situations as a medicine (methanol poisoning, certain mold infections). While disinfection is certainly important in medicine, it doesn’t treat nearly as many conditions as cannabis. Also, many old-time remedies that used alcohol are considered quite dangerous, such as using whiskey to help infants sleep or deal with the pain of teething.

Better creativity
Hemingway said, “write drunk, edit sober.” Anecdotes of famous authors aside, most people do not think well when they are drunk nor have the motor skills to capitalize on any bursts of creativity that might come when using alcohol. Once you start to get buzzed, mental faculties start to plummet. What might seem like a fascinating idea or a bestseller at the time might be garbage when you sober up.

However, with cannabis, some creatives use low doses of a sativa strain to boost their creativity and find that it helps them a lot. Creativity is subjective, but it’s worth a try. Use a small amount of a sativa strain to experiment with this effect. Heavy doses of cannabis will make you too drowsy and relaxed to work.

Better stress relief
This one is debatable since people have been using alcohol to relax for a long time, but no one can say that long-term use of alcohol ever had a net positive stress relief benefit. The symptoms from long-term alcohol use are certainly stressful on the body and tolerance builds quickly. Cannabis, however, is a potent stress reliever, especially for indica strains. These have higher concentrations of CBD, which is used for insomnia among other conditions. Tolerance also builds more slowly and long-term use of cannabis doesn’t have nearly as many negative side effects as alcohol. However, some people do experience higher anxiety with particular strains of cannabis, so be careful if you have an anxious personality.

Less-risky behaviors
Most cannabis smokers are only seeking a few things while high: a better high, enough food, and some sort of sensory experience done from home. But alcohol users? There’s a reason we have the expression “hold my beer, watch this.” Alcohol lowers a lot of our inhibitions, leading to problems from DUI to unintended pregnancy. Many a funny or painful YouTube video was powered by alcohol. Of course, this doesn’t mean that cannabis use might not make you do something stupid like turning your roomie’s aquarium into a bong.

More varieties
Depending on how you measure it, there are a lot more cannabis varieties than alcohol varieties. Alcohol is pretty cut and dry. It’s the same chemical no matter what liquor wrapper you put it in. But cannabis isn’t just THC. There are many cannabinoids, terpenes, and flavonoids in cannabis in different combinations and strengths depending on the strain. Plus you can turn cannabis into a wide variety of other products like edibles, hashish, wax, shatter, and more. Thus, it may be possible to create very specific effects in the future as new strains and consumption methods are created.

Michael Jacobs is a marketing and creative content specialist at GotVape.com with primary focus on customer satisfaction. Technology and fitness combined healthy lifestyle obsession are his main talking pointsr

]]>https://canadiancannabis.com/10-reasons-marijuana-better-alcohol/feed/0Cannabis is a right in Canadahttps://canadiancannabis.com/cannabis-right-canada/
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Listen up, Canada! Cannabis use not a privilege, it is a right!

Complacency is at the root of all that becomes bad policy and law. The majority of Canadians want Cannabis decriminalized, and with fake legalization looming for July 2018, more Canadians than ever will face criminal records, prison and fines.

Speaking personally, in order to live any kind of quality of life, I need to eat and juice vegetables (including cannabis) daily. Whenever I find myself thrown off of my dietary regimen, my health goes on a noticeable decline rather quickly.

Truth is, I was almost crippled with pain and inflammation until just a few months ago and until I began adding juiced cannabis leaf to my daily diet. Prior to self medicating with juiced cannabis, the Doctors were quick prescribe powerful pharmaceuticals, ultimately leading each time to misdiagnosis. At one point, I was even given Lithium for what I now know was a Vitamin B1 deficiency. Further this, I was misdiagnosed with Fibromyalgia. I seem to have issue was poor magnesium and potassium absorption. What really ended all my pain was the addition of cannabis juice. I use a cannabis strain called Fedora Cannabis which is essentially hemp with no THC but high CBD and now I also take CBD Isolate.

Like many Canadians this CBD and cannabis use makes me a criminal by the definition of Canadian Criminal Code, yet “the Constitution of Canada is the supreme law of Canada, and any law that is inconsistent with the provisions of the Constitution is, to the extent of the inconsistency, of no force or effect.”read more

Let’s be clear, Canadian’s health and welfare is a right not a privilege! It is my inalienable right to maintain my health, as it is the right of all Canadians.

I am not asking for money or even free medical. And honestly, Doctors today seem more like pharmaceutical pimps than doctors from my youth. I remember when Doctors used to care and take time to see what you were eating and not eating . Most often a vitamin was recommended as the remedy … but not today. These days, I am still unable to get any Doctor to test for nutrients in cells, despite the fact that it is not what’s in your blood, it’s which nutrients your cells contain and can absorb.

My old Doctor said to me “I would lose my license – Health Canada will not pay for these tests“. How disgusting is it to have Governments tell us what is for our own good. They will criminalize us for maintaining health and they will imprison me and others for trying to live a good life without pain, all for a harmless plant.

“Many PTSD patients report symptom reduction with cannabis, and a clinical trial needs to be done to see what proportion and what kind of PTSD patients benefit with either cannabis or the main active ingredients of cannabis,” says Dr. George Greer, one of the researchers.

Others including myself know that each individual has the right to medicine, health, spirituality, and yes even recreational use of cannabis.

Rights are NOT gifts from Governments. We believe the results of numerous trials are in and cannabis is helping many. It saved my life and I personally cannot live without it. Quite frankly, I think many Canadians are as disgusted as I am with policy being used make a few so Called “Legal Producers” (LP) rich on the backs of those with disabilities, Veterans and ultimately most Canadians.

Imagine Legalization where 2 Veterans live in the same home. They are now expected to grow enough cannabis with 3 plants, and each plant must be less then 3 feet tall or face a criminal record and prison time. Yes, and many are coining this #fakelegalization for good reason. I can tell you personally that I need 30 or more plants to meat my medical requirements, (I juice 2 handfuls of leaf each day). To make it through the winter I would need closer too 200 plants as I am not growing indoors.

So should we face prison or a criminal record for growing this harmless plant? Is Canada so insistent in keeping me unhealthy that it will spend money to put me in prison where I would likely die because of my condition? Have they considerdd that this would rob my little girl of her Daddy over a few plants?

It is my opinion that the Canadian Government, much like the all the world’s Governments, is attempting to criminalize systems of bad policy and not look to making better policy. They are lazy or criminal themelves. I believe a measurement of a successful society is the less laws it needs to function, not more laws. The solution is not in building more prisons, but more community, more hospitals, and a more compassionate society that cares for everyone to a minimum standard.

Child poverty should be outlawed and government pay and tax increases should be frozen. How is it acceptable to fund prisons while law abiding citizens live through short falls on school and hospital budgets, forgetting our very own 1.3 million children in Canada! The current social and emotional environment creates these long term problems and the pain and suffering of so many. Added to that, the number of our abused Canadian children is at epidemic proportions.

Next we have our Veterans, sent to awful environments and returning home only to live in fear as their Canadian Government cuts loom, showing how much they care. We don’t have to add to this suffering with punishment – this is what Canadians complacency is going to earn us as our government no longer represents anything more that greedy corporate interests and foreign elites. Consequences of pot program cuts ‘should be alarming,’ says veteran with PTSD .

Canada will not find health in outlawing medicine for fear of abuse. Drug misuse and abuse is never cured by laws. Consider the Down Town East Side in Vancouver. I challenge you to tell me how outlawing heroin has done anything to stop abuse. Yet, we have not made opiates illegal.

Extreme comparisons like this though are silly because cannabis has no death toll. We have the Canadian Government using Cannabis Fake Legalization to bring in more Police State policy with random checks, searches and forced blood and urine samples.

A safe cannabis supply is at best a crap shoot with LP’s. Medical marijuana companies face proposed class-action suits over pesticide use in the news over and over again. We know first hand “Legal Producers” are providing unsafe and poor quality products, and in some cases poison. Hence they are often called LP’s as in Legal Poison. We receive letter after letter from patients, and CC Vendors are offering them such silly low prices that there is hardly any money in it. We charge a maintenance fee of 15% and this has never been paid as we just instruct Vendors to use it towards helping patients who really need it.

The Canadian courts have repeatedly struck down legislation restricting usage of medicinal marijuana as unconstitutional, as an infringement of the right to liberty and security of the person. Liberty, in this context has been interpreted in two ways. The first is founded on a conventional understanding of the term “liberty” in that violations of marijuana usage prohibitions may trigger criminal prosecution. In the event of a conviction, there is a risk of imprisonment that clearly leads to a deprivation of liberty. The broader interpretation of liberty is the right to make decisions of personal importance. This right is endangered when the state uses the threat of criminal prosecution to restrict a person’s choices—in this context, the choice of medical treatment.

The courts have generally agreed that within the right to security of the person, there must be protection from state intrusion into personal decisions made by an individual whose life or health is in danger. In a seminal case in Canadian human rights law, R v. Morgentaler, the Court concluded that:

“Security of the person” must include a right of access to medical treatment for a condition representing a danger to life or health without fear of criminal sanction. If an Act of Parliament forces a person whose life or health is in danger to choose between, on the one hand, the commission of a crime to obtain effective and timely medical treatment and, on the other hand, inadequate treatment or no treatment at all, the right to security of the person has been violated.

Laws never stopped me at age 14 from smoking cannabis, but by the age of 17, I lost interest and have not smoked it since. The new laws won’t stop kids today either. The best way to protect our children is to keep them informed and educate then outside of the indoctrination they face all day in school. I use low THC raw cannabis for health and medicinal reasons only. Yet, I am deemed a criminal for this and for helping people just like me who would otherwise be dead, sick and/or wishing they were dead.

Many of us live in fear of our Police and Government over these bad policies and I am ashamed of the direction Canada is headed. I am afraid for my daughter that her Dad will be locked up for standing tall and doing what is right, but I would be a hell of a lot more afraid for her if I was a complacent and immoral coward ready to bow to the corrupt and outright evil drug laws of Canada. My girl is proud of her Dad with good reason. Over the years, my friends and I havewe provided genuine care for people and have always been poor yet still always been able to help others.

If our very own municipalities and BC Governments will outright defy the Federal Government as they have in licensing Cannabis Dispensaries, how then can anyone/you/me that knows what we know just be silent and let them roll over and destroy another generation.

I WILL NOT BE SILENCED, PLEASE JOIN ME! Let us all simply ignore their archaic cannabis legislation. We all know what right and have no need to pretend these morons in Ottawa know better than We the People.

]]>https://canadiancannabis.com/cannabis-right-canada/feed/0Canadian physician Gabor Maté – The Power of Addiction and The Addiction of Powerhttps://canadiancannabis.com/canadian-physician-gabor-mate-power-addiction-addiction-power/
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Canadian physician Gabor Maté is a specialist in terminal illnesses, chemical dependents, and HIV positive patients.

Dr. Maté is a renowned author of books and columnist known for his knowledge about attention deficit disorder, stress, chronic illness and parental relations. His theme at TEDxRio+20 was addiction — from drugs to power. From the lack of love to the desire to escape oneself, from susceptibility of the being to interior power — nothing escapes. And he risks a generic and generous prescription: “Find your nature and be nice to yourself.”

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)

The Power of Addiction and The Addiction of Power: Gabor Maté at TED - Transcript

0:09I’ve come to talk to you about addiction, the power of addiction,
0:13but also addiction to power.
0:16As a medical doctor, I work in Vancouver, Canada,
0:19and I have worked with some very, very addicted people.
0:22People who use heroin, they inject cocaine,
0:26they drink alcohol, crystal meth and every drug known to man.
0:31And these people suffer.
0:33If the success of a doctor is to be measured by how long his patients live,
0:38then I am a failure
0:39because my patients die very young, relatively speaking.
0:43They die of HIV, they die of hepatitis C,
0:47they die of infections of their heart valves,
0:50they die of infections of their brains, of their spines,
0:53of their hearts, of their bloodstream.
0:56They die of suicide, of overdose, of violence, of accidental deaths.
1:02And if you look at them, you call to mind
1:06the words of the great Egyptian novelist, Naguib Mahvouz, who wrote:
1:10″Nothing records the effects of a sad life as graphically as the human body.”
1:15Because these people lose everything.
1:17They lose their health, they lose their beauty,
1:20they lose their teeth, they lose their wealth,
1:23they lose human relationships
1:25and, in the end, they often lose their lives.
1:28And yet, nothing shakes them from their addiction.
1:31Nothing can force them to give up their addiction.
1:34The addictions are powerful and the question is: why?
1:38And as one of my patients said to me:
1:40″I’m not afraid of dying,” he said, “I’m more afraid of living.”
1:45And the question we have to ask is: Why are people afraid of life?
1:50And, if you want to understand addiction,
1:53you can’t look at what’s wrong with the addiction;
1:56you have to look at what’s right about it.
1:57In other words, what’s the person getting from the addiction?
2:00What are they getting that otherwise they don’t have?
2:03What addicts get is relief from pain,
2:07what they get is a sense of peace, a sense of control,
2:12a sense of calmness, very, very temporarily.
2:16And the question is why are these qualities missing from their lives,
2:19what happened to them?
2:22If you look at drugs like heroin, like morphine, like codeine,
2:27if you look at cocaine, if you look at alcohol,
2:31these are all painkillers.
2:33In one way or another, they all soothe pain.
2:36And that’s why the real question in addiction
2:38is not, “Why the addiction?,” but, “Why the pain?”
2:42Now, I just finished reading the biography of Keith Richards,
2:46the guitarist for the Rolling Stones
2:48and, as you probably know, everybody is still surprised
2:51that Richards is still alive today,
2:53because he was a heavy-duty heroine addict for a long time.
2:57And in his biography, he writes that the addiction
3:00was all about looking for oblivion, looking for forgetting.
3:05He said, “The contortions that we go through
3:08just not to be ourselves for a few hours.”
3:11And I understand that very well myself,
3:14because I know that discomfort with myself,
3:16I know that discomfort being in my own skin,
3:20I know that desire to escape from my own mind.
3:24The great British psychiatrist R.D. Laing said
3:29that there are three things that people are afraid of.
3:32They are afraid of death, of other people and of their own minds.
3:37For a long time in my life, I wanted to distract myself from my own mind,
3:42because I was afraid to be alone with it.
3:44And how would I distract myself?
3:46Well, I’ve never used drugs, but I’ve distracted myself through work,
3:50and throwing myself into activities.
3:53And I’ve distracted myself through shopping;
3:57in my case, for classical compact music, classical compact discs.
4:01But I’ve been a real addict that way.
4:03One week, I spent 8,000 dollars on classical compact discs,
4:06not because I wanted to,
4:08but because I couldn’t help going back to the store.
4:11And as a medical doctor, I used to deliver a lot of babies.
4:14And once I left a woman in labor in hospital
4:16to get a classical piece of music.
4:22I still could have made it back to the hospital on time,
4:25but once in the store you can’t leave,
4:28because there are these evil classical music dealers in the aisles:
4:32″Hey buddy, have you listened to the latest Mozart symphony cycle?”
4:36″You haven’t? Well…”
4:38So I missed the delivery of that baby,
4:40and I came home and I lied to my wife about it.
4:42Like any addict, I would lie about it and I would ignore my own children
4:46because of my obsession with work and with music.
4:49So I know what that escape from the self is like.
4:53My definition of addiction
4:54is any behavior that gives you temporary relief, temporary pleasure,
5:01but in the long term causes harm, has some negative consequences
5:05and you can’t give it up, despite those negative consequences.
5:09And from that perspective, you can understand
5:12that there are many, many addictions.
5:16Yes, there is the addiction to drugs,
5:17but there is also the addiction to consumerism,
5:21there is the addiction to sex, to the internet,
5:25to shopping, to food.
5:29The Buddhists have this idea of the hungry ghosts.
5:33The hungry ghosts are creatures with large empty bellies
5:36and small, scrawny necks and tiny little mouths,
5:39so they can never get enough,
5:41they can never fill this emptiness on the inside.
5:43And we are all hungry ghosts in this society,
5:46we all have this emptiness,
5:48and so many of us are trying to fill that emptiness from the outside
5:52and the addiction is all about trying to fill that emptiness from the outside.
5:57Now, if you want to ask the question of why people are in pain,
6:03you can’t look at their genetics.
6:06You have to look at their lives.
6:08And in the case of my patients, my highly addicted patients,
6:11it’s very clear why they are in pain.
6:14Because they have been abused all of their lives,
6:16they began life as abused children.
6:18All of the women I have worked with over a 12-year period, hundreds of them,
6:22they had all been sexually abused as children.
6:24And the men had been traumatized as well.
6:26The men had been sexually abused, neglected,
6:30physically abused, abandoned
6:32and emotionally hurt over and over again.
6:36And that’s why the pain.
6:38And there is something else here too: the human brain.
6:42The human brains itself, as you’ve heard already,
6:45develops an interaction with the environment.
6:47It’s not just genetically programed.
6:49So the kind of environment that a child has
6:53will actually shape the development of the brain.
6:56Now, I can tell you about two experiments with mice.
7:00You take a little mouse and you put food in its mouth
7:03and he’ll eat it and enjoy it and swallow it,
7:07but if you put the food down a few inches away from his nose,
7:10he will not move to eat it;
7:12he will actually starve to death rather than eat.
7:16Why?
7:17Because, genetically, they knocked out the receptors for a chemical in the brain
7:21called dopamine.
7:23Dopamine is the incentive and motivation chemical.
7:26Dopamine flows whenever we are motivated,
7:29excited, vital, vibrant, curious about something,
7:33when we are seeking food or a sexual partner.
7:35Without the dopamine, we have no motivation.
7:37Now what do you think the addict gets?
7:39When the addict shoots cocaine,
7:41when the addict shoots crystal meth or almost any drug,
7:44they get a hit of dopamine in their brain.
7:47And the question is,
7:48what happened to their brains in the first place?
7:52Because it’s a myth that drugs are addictive.
7:55Drugs are not by themselves addictive,
7:57because most people who try most drugs never become addicted.
8:00So the question is,
8:02why are some people vulnerable to being addicted?
8:05Just like food is not addictive, but to some people it is;
8:08shopping is not addictive, but to some people it is;
8:11television is not addictive, but to some people it is.
8:13So the question is, why this susceptibility?
8:19There’s another little experiment with mice
8:21where infant mice,
8:23if they are separated from their mothers will not cry for their mothers.
8:27Now what would that mean in the wild?
8:29It means that they would die,
8:30because only the mother protects the child’s life and nurtures the child.
8:34And why?
8:35Because genetically they knocked out the receptors,
8:38the chemical binding sites in the brain, for endorphins
8:42and endorphins are indigenous morphine-like substances;
8:46endorphins are our own natural painkillers.
8:50What morphine or endorphins also do is they make possible the experience of love;
8:56they make possible the experience of attachment to the parent
8:59and the parents’ attachment to the child.
9:01So these little mice without endorphin receptors in their brains
9:05will naturally not call for their mothers.
9:07In other words,
9:08the addiction to these drugs and of course the heroine and the morphine,
9:14what they do is they act on the endorphin system;
9:17that’s why they work.
9:19And so, the question is,
9:23what happens to people that they need these chemicals from the outside?
9:27Well, what happens to them is, when they are abused as children,
9:30those circuits don’t develop.
9:33When you don’t have love and connection in your life,
9:36when you are very, very young,
9:37then those important brain circuits just don’t develop properly.
9:41And under conditions of abuse, things just don’t develop properly
9:46and their brains then are susceptible when they do the drugs.
9:51Now they feel normal, now they feel pain relief,
9:54now they feel love.
9:56And as one patient said to me: “When I first did heroine,” she said,
10:00″it felt like a warm soft hug, just like a mother hugging her baby.”
10:06Now, I’ve had that same emptiness, not to the same degree as my patients.
10:12What happened to me is that I was born in Budapest, Hungary,
10:16in 1944, to Jewish parents,
10:19just before the Germans occupied Hungary.
10:22And you know what happened to the Jewish people in Eastern Europe.
10:25And I was 2 months old when the German army moved into Budapest.
10:29And the day after they did, my mother phoned the pediatrician
10:33and she said,
10:35″Would you please come and see Gabor because he is crying all the time.”
10:38And the pediatrician said, “Of course, I will come to see him,
10:41but I should tell you, all of my Jewish babies are crying.”
10:45Now why?
10:46What do babies know about Hitler or genocide or war?
10:51Nothing.
10:52What we were picking up on is the stresses and the terrors
10:55and the depression of our mothers
10:57and that actually shapes the child’s brain.
11:02And of course, what happens then
11:07is I get the message that the world doesn’t want me,
11:10because if my mother is not happy around me,
11:12she must not want me.
11:15Why do I become a workaholic later?
11:17Because if they don’t want me, at least they are going to need me.
11:21And I’ll be an important doctor and they are going to need me
11:24and that way I can make up
11:26for the feeling of not being wanted in the first place.
11:29And what does that mean?
11:31It means that I am working all the time,
11:33and when I am not working, I’m consumed by buying music.
11:38What message do my kids get?
11:40My kids get the same message that they are not wanted.
11:43And this is how we pass it on, we pass on the trauma,
11:46and we pass on the suffering, unconsciously,
11:49from one generation to the next.
11:52So obviously, there are many, many ways to fill this emptiness,
11:56and for each person, there is a different way of filling the emptiness,
11:59but the emptiness always goes back
12:01to what we didn’t get when we were very small.
12:07And then we look at the drug addict and we say to the drug addict,
12:11″How can you possibly do this to yourself?
12:13How can you possibly inject this terrible substance into your body
12:17that may kill you?”
12:18But look at what we are doing to the earth.
12:21We are injecting all kinds of things into the atmosphere
12:24and the oceans and the environment
12:28that is killing us, that’s killing the earth.
12:30Now which addiction is greater?
12:33The addiction to oil? Or to consumerism?
12:36Which causes the greater harm?
12:38And yet we judge the drug addict
12:40because we actually see that they are just like us
12:43and we don’t like that.
12:45So we say, “You are different from us, you are worse than we are.”
12:48(Applause)
12:55On the plane to São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro,
13:00I was reading the New York Times, on June 9th,
13:04and there was an article about Brazil
13:06and the article was about a man called Nísio Gomes,
13:10a leader of the Guarani people in the Amazon,
13:14who was killed last November and you probably heard about him.
13:18And he was killed because he was protecting his people
13:21from the big farmers and the companies
13:25that are taking over the rainforest and destroying the rainforest
13:28and that are destroying the habitat of the native Indian people here in Brazil.
13:32And I can tell you that coming from Canada the same thing has happened over there.
13:36And many of my patients are actually First Nation’s Indian people,
13:39native Indian people in Canada, and they are heavily addicted.
13:43They make up a small percentage of the population,
13:47but they make up a large percentage of the people in jail,
13:50the people who are addicted,
13:51the people who are mentally ill,
13:53the people who commit suicide. Why?
13:55Because their lands were taken away from them,
13:57and because they were killed and abused for generations and generations.
14:02But the question I ask is,
14:04if you can understand the suffering of these native people
14:07and how that suffering makes them seek relief from pain in their addictions,
14:11what about the people who are perpetrating it?
14:14What are they addicted to?
14:15Well, they are addicted to power,
14:17they are addicted to wealth,
14:19they are addicted to acquisition.
14:21They want to make themselves bigger.
14:23And when I was trying to understand the addiction to power,
14:26I looked at some of the most powerful people in history.
14:28I looked at Alexander the Great, I looked at Napoleon, I looked at Hitler,
14:33I looked at Genghis Kahn, I looked at Stalin.
14:35It’s very interesting when you look at these people.
14:38First of all, why did they need power so much?
14:41Interestingly enough,
14:43physically they were all very small people,
14:46my size or smaller; actually smaller.
14:52They came from outsiders,
14:56they were not part of the major population.
14:59Stalin was a Georgian, not a Russian; Napoleon was a Corsican, not a Frenchman;
15:06Alexander was a Macedonian, not a Greek; and Hitler was an Austrian, not a German.
15:13So a real sense of insecurity and inferiority.
15:16And they needed power to feel okay in themselves,
15:19to make themselves bigger,
15:21and in order to get that power, they were quite willing to fight wars
15:24and to kill a lot of people, just to maintain that power.
15:29I’m not saying that only small people can be power-hungry
15:32but it is interesting to look at these examples,
15:34because power, the addiction to power, is always about the emptiness
15:38that you try and fill from the outside.
15:40And Napoleon, even in exile on the island of St. Helena,
15:45after he lost his power, he said, “I love power, I love power.”
15:49He couldn’t think of himself without power.
15:52He had no sense of himself without being powerful externally.
15:56And that’s very interesting when you compare it to people
16:01like the Buddha or Jesus,
16:03because if you look at the story about Jesus and Buddha,
16:05both of them were tempted by the devil
16:08and one of the things that the devil offers them is power, earthly power,
16:14and they both say no.
16:16Now why do they say no?
16:18They say no because they have the power inside of themselves,
16:23they don’t need it from the outside.
16:25And they both say no because they don’t want to control people,
16:28they want to teach people.
16:30They want to teach people by example and by soft words,
16:35and by wisdom, not through force; so they refuse power.
16:41And it’s very interesting what they say about that.
16:46Jesus says that the power and the reality is not outside of yourself but inside.
16:53He says the Kingdom of God is within.
16:57And the Buddha, before he dies and his monks are mourning and crying
17:01and they are all upset,
17:02he says, “Don’t mourn me,” he says, “And don’t worship me.
17:06Find a lamp inside yourself, be a lamp unto yourselves, find a light within.”
17:12And so as we look this difficult world with the loss of the environment
17:16and global warming and the depredations in the oceans,
17:21let’s not look to the people in power to change things,
17:25because the people in power, I’m afraid to say, are very often
17:28some of the emptiest people in the world
17:31and they are not going to change things for us.
17:33We have to find that light within ourselves,
17:35we have to find the light within communities
17:38and within our own wisdom and our own creativity.
17:41We can’t wait for the people in power to make things better for us,
17:45because they are never going to, not unless we make them.
17:53They say that human nature is competitive, that human nature is aggressive,
17:58that human nature is selfish.
18:00It’s just the opposite; human nature is actually cooperative,
18:03human nature is actually generous, human nature is actually community-minded.
18:09What we see here at this conference with people sharing information,
18:13people receiving information, people committed to the better world,
18:17that’s actually human nature.
18:19And what I am saying to you is,
18:20if you find that light within, if you find your own nature,
18:23then we will be kinder to ourselves
18:25and we will also be kinder to nature.
18:27Thank you.

What is Addiction?

What is Addiction - Transcript

0:04all the substances of abuse whether
0:07they’re opiates or cocaine or anything
0:09else they’re actually painkillers
0:10some of them specifically are
0:12painkillers but physical pain and
0:14emotional pain the suffering is
0:16experienced in the same part of the
0:17brain so when people suffer emotional
0:20rejection the same part of the brain
0:21will light up as if you stuck them with
0:23a knife the neck are told this is very
0:25nicely that addictions begin with pain
0:27and end with pain so that all the
0:30addictions are attempts to soothe the
0:31pain so when I work with addictions the
0:35first question is always not why the
0:37addiction will buy the pain and what you
0:40find is emotional loss or trauma in the
0:44case of the severe addicts as in the
0:45downtown insider they were every single
0:47one of them traumatized there’s no women
0:50walking the streets here we’re not being
0:51sexually abused not impacted but but you
0:55know whether it’s a sex addiction or
0:56internet or relationship or shopping or
1:01work addiction these are all attempts to
1:03get away from distress Keith Richards
1:06the rolling stone guitars said who the
1:09east have severe heroin habit as you
1:11know he said that all the contortions we
1:16go through just not to be ourselves for
1:18a few hours or why would somebody not
1:21want to be themselves because they’re in
1:23too much distress in too much pain so I
1:26don’t care what they tell you but
1:27genetics or any other choices and that
1:30nonsense it’s always about being well
1:33the Tibetan Book of living and dying
1:34it’s got a wonderful line in it whatever
1:37you do don’t try and escape from your
1:39pain
1:40but be with it because there is the
1:44attempt to escape from pain is what
1:46creates more pain that’s the reality
1:48with addiction but the question is how
1:51can people who with their pain well only
1:54if they send some compassion on somebody
1:59so as another teacher says only when
2:02compassion is present well people love
2:04themselves see the truth so I think that
2:08people need a compassionate present
2:10which will permit them to experience
2:12their pain without having to run away
2:13from and all the attempts to run away
2:16it’s like another teacher says the
2:18surest way to go to hell is to try to
2:20run away from hell so you’ve got to be
2:24with that pain you just have to be with
2:25it but you have to have some support and
2:28and we live in a society that one way or
2:33the other is always about instant relief
2:35quick satisfaction distraction in other
2:41words we live in a culture that is based
2:42on both economically and psychologically
2:45on not supporting people to be with
2:50themselves so it’s always the quick
2:53getaway so it’s very difficult to deal
2:56with the diction’s in a society but yeah
2:58it is a matter of at some point finding
3:01a way of being with your pain so that
3:03you can actually get to know what it’s
3:04vide all about
3:18you

A Nova Scotia man listed in the proposed suit says he became violently ill and unable to keep food down after taking federally regulated medical marijuana purchased from Toronto-based Mettrum Ltd. Those claims, unproven in court, are similar to allegations made in two other proposed class actions already launched over the pesticide problem.

The symptoms also resemble a growing file of evidence being gathered by a group of military veterans who are investigating the situation after being exposed to the tainted products. Several of them say they became bedridden, stricken by nausea and suffered bouts of “scary” breathing difficulties, among other symptoms.

Scott Wood, a former military policeman who is leading the independent investigation, has gathered evidence from roughly 100 people, including dozens of affected veterans. The group wants federal Health Minister Jane Philpott to step in, saying the department has not investigated the problem properly, or fairly, on behalf of patients before concluding that there was a low risk of serious health problems.

Drawing upon his police background, Mr. Wood said he has spent the past few months cataloging evidence from patients exposed to the banned chemicals in products sold by Mettrum and OrganiGram Inc.

He said thousands of veterans use medical cannabis instead of opioids to ease the pain of injuries suffered while serving, or to manage post-traumatic stress disorder. The group disputes Health Canada’s claim that the risk of health problems was low and believes the department reached that conclusion without speaking to patients.

Mr. Wood said more people have joined the effort this week, after he spoke publicly about the investigation in The Globe and Mail, including additional military veterans.

The symptoms being catalogued include severe bouts of breathing difficulties that have sent people, including Mr. Wood, to the emergency ward, painful rashes around the neck and other parts of the body, abdominal pain and persistent bouts of nausea and vomiting. In his case, Mr. Wood said he stopped taking the products when the symptoms emerged, but problems such as breathing difficulties persisted.

“These symptoms didn’t come out of nowhere. They have to be caused by something,” Mr. Wood said, adding he and many other patients experienced none of the health issues prior to taking the products. “How would Health Canada explain so many people with eating [dysfunctions] all of a sudden, who can’t eat?” Mr. Wood said, noting that one patient reported losing more than 40 pounds.

Patients who visited their family doctors have come away with few answers, he added, which suggests more examination of the problem is needed.

A spokesperson for Ms. Philpott said on Tuesday the Health Minister had no comment.

The latest proposed class action is against Mettrum and is led by Halifax-based Wagners Law Firm, which is seeking a class action against OrganiGram on similar grounds. Toronto-based law firm Roy O’Connor announced a proposed class action against Mettrum two weeks ago. All three cases are seeking certification by the courts.

Canopy Growth Corp., which acquired Mettrum in January, and OrganiGram have both said they plan to fight the suits. Mettrum issued a statement saying it is satisfied with Health Canada’s determination that the recalled products were “not likely to cause any adverse health consequences.”

In its statement of claim against Mettrum, Wagners said Nova Scotia resident Neal Partington suffered “persistent and severe nausea and vomiting,” before halting use of the product, which he was taking for chronic neck and back pain.

The suit alleges there is no explanation, other than the product, for the problems. “Mr. Partington attended multiple medical appointments and the emergency room on various occasions. He was referred to medical specialists and underwent various diagnostic tests, yet received no confirmed diagnosis to explain his nausea and violent illness,” the statement of claim says.

“Patients thought they were purchasing safe, healthy medical cannabis from a licensed producer subjected to strict regulations. And in fact, that’s not what they received,” said Ray Wagner, lawyer for the suit, which seeks to recover money charged for the products, among other damages.

SAY IT’S NOT SO! No weed at High Times Cannabis Cup? Trump Crackdown?

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said last week that the public can expect to see “greater enforcement” of federal marijuana laws under President Donald Trump. Spicer indicated that Trump supports medical marijuana, which is now legal in 28 states and Washington, D.C., but he said recreational marijuana use is “a very, very different subject.”

Adults over 21 are currently allowed to buy and use weed for non-medical purposes in four states: Colorado, Washington, Oregon, and Alaska, plus Washington, D.C. Citizens in four other states — California, Nevada, Massachusetts, and Maine — voted in the November election to enact similar laws, but those recreational markets aren’t yet up and running.

Spicer compared marijuana legalization to the opioid epidemic and said “the last thing we should be doing is encouraging people” to use the drug. He didn’t specify how the feds might crack down, and referred a follow-up question asking for details to the Department of Justice. The DOJ hasn’t issued any clarification yet, but marijuana remains illegal under federal law, and the DEA technically has the authority to arrest state-sanctioned pot vendors.

The High Times Cannabis Cup, one of the largest “marijuana festivals” in the world, is scheduled for this weekend on tribal land outside Las Vegas. But the whole shebang is facing a possible shutdown if marijuana is present, according to a letter sent by federal officials earlier this month.

High Times representatives claimed they’re still expecting a “great event,” reports TMZ, but want to comply with the Feds to help the marijuana industry “continue to gain legitimacy and social acceptance,” presumably by accepting prohibition, even in a legal state.

The letter, to the Moapa Paiute Tribe from U.S. Attorney Daniel Bogden, who is based in Las Vegas, reminds the tribe that the transport, possession, use and distribution of marijuana is illegal under federal law, reports Jenny Kane of the Reno Gazette-Journal.

The cannabis trade show and festival, planned for March 4-5, would violate that federal law, according to the letter.

“I am informed that the tribal council is moving forward with the planned marijuana event referred to me as the 2017 High Times Cannabis Cup because it is under the impression that the so-called ‘Cole Memorandum’ and subsequent memoranda from the Department of Justice permit marijuana use, possession and distribution on tribal lands when the state law also permits it,” the letter reads. “Unfortunately, this is an incorrect interpretation of the Department’s position on this issue.”

That is despite the fact that the federal Department of Justice in December 2014 told U.S. Attorneys not to prevent Native American tribes from growing or selling marijuana on their sovereign lands, even in states where cannabis is illegal. This appears to be yet another instance in which the Trump Administration appears intent on rolling back gains made under the Obama Administration.

The Cole Memorandum, released by then-Deputy Atty. Gen. James Cole in 2011, provided guidance to federal officials in states that who legalized marijuana in some form. The memo advises U.S. Attorneys to take into account local laws when looking at cannabis enforcement, which allowed them to give lower priority to marijuana “crimes.”

The December 2014 memo, known as the Guidance Memorandum, indicated that tribal governments and U.S. Attorneys could consult government-to-government over marijuana issues.

“Nothing in the Guidance Memorandum or the Cole Memorandum alters the authority or jurisdiction of the United States to enforce federal law in Indian Country or elsewhere,” Bogden claims in the letter.

The tribe is trying to resolve the conflict with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, according to tribal Chairman Darren Daboda. The U.S. Attorney’s Office confirmed the letter, but declined further comment.

If federal officials interfere with the Cannabis Cup, it would be one of the first signs that the Trump White House is indeed going to follow through on the threats from Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions and White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer to crack down on recreational marijuana in states where it is legal

Vaguely threatening statements are all that have been issued so far, with no clear plan of action from the new administration, in keeping with its approach on many other issues.

“To us, we’re looking at it as utilizing our sovereignty,” Daboda said. “As long as (marijuana) is not visible, we’re told it will be OK.”

Rapper Ludacis is set to headline this year’s Cannabis Cup. The event is also supposed to feature pairings of edible cannabis products, spa treatments with marijuana infused oils, and vendors marketing their latest marijuana-centric products, according to the High Times website.

“The tribe is promoting it as a vendors’ crafts, food and concert event,” Daboda said. “We’re not promoting the distributor or selling (marijuana).”

The event is set to be held in a fenced-in area, and only ticket holders 21 and older will be allowed to attend. Hired security will patrol the festival, and tribal law enforcement will be available if backup is needed.

Even if the Cannabis Cup comes off without a hitch, the tribe is now uncertain if it will have any more involvement with the cannabis industry, because the Trump Administration recently suggested it would exercise “greater enforcement” of federal marijuana prohibition.

“It’s very simple,” promoter Mike “Chili” Houlihan of the Las Vegas Hemp Festival told Toke Signals Wednesday evening. “I don’t care how long you have been producing events or how big you think you are, you dont come to Las vegas and disrespect.

“This is a whole different monster; this town was built for one reason,” Chili said, “Dont ever underestimate it. Don’t ever disrespect it and you better make sure you come with your game on. ”

If Trump does decide to go after legal weed, the blowback could be huge. A national poll released last week by Quinnipiac University found that 71 percent of voters believe the government should not enforce federal marijuana laws against states that have voted to legalize the drug.

Marijuana legalization advocates argue that shutting down the recreational markets would put thousands of people out of work. As noted by Forbes, a recent survey by a marijuana industry trade publication found that about 100,000-150,000 people have jobs that directly involve legal weed, and thousands of electricians, plumbers, real estate brokers, and others who provide ancillary services have benefited.

“If the Trump administration goes through with a crackdown on states that have legalized marijuana,” said Erik Altieri, executive director of National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), “they will be taking billions of dollars away from state-sanctioned businesses and putting that money back into the hands of drug cartels.”

I count myself among those that was hopeful yet all along knowing that all governments are bullshit all the puppet show every does is lie. Trump administration’ I think it’s been coined best with this “Orange is the new Black” all that’s changed is the hair and skin tone the rest is all a bullshit front. The left and right wing are of the same bird flying to the same place… FREEDUMB!

Medical marijuana firms discussed using banned pesticides

“I think of it like this; I buy my food from little local markets, grow my own when I can and buy organic. I shop small and local avoiding big chain stores, mono crop corporate farm POISSON distribution centres otherwise know and Big Chain Grocery stores. Why would I want my cannabis grown by the same people that destroyed our food? Government is in it for a money grab just as LP’s and the “Green Rush” and its wall street pump and dump cannabis bubble. Time will tell I suspect there will be a market for Walmart weed with 1 pound of foam and plastic wrapping for a gram of pesticide laced GMO weed that causes disease and makes you numb.” J.W.

Contamination Scandals Send Big Pot’s Moral Argument Up In Smoke

And what exquisitely cruel timing with two image-bruising developments in the last two business days of 2016.

For many shareholders in particular, it was analogous to a much-anticipated bottle of high-end champagne turning out to be flat on New Year’s Eve.

Here’s what happened: it recently came to light that two federal government-approved ‘licensed producers (LPs) of medical marijuana have been caught by authorities selling tainted cannabis to medical patients.

It undermines the argument that Canada’s many small medical pot dispensaries should be legislated out of business.
This is a big deal.

Admittedly, nobody is suggesting that some nefarious corporate malfeasance has just been exposed. Hopefully, it just turns out to be instances of human error in both cases.

Nonetheless, it hurts the credibility of an industry that insists that it grows and sells the cleanest, safest, best-quality medicinal marijuana in the whole world.

It also undermines the argument that Canada’s many small medical pot dispensaries should be legislated out of business — all because their products aren’t grown under the watchful eye of Health Canada or even with its approval.

In fact, some LPs have even lobbied to have their main rivals shut down for selling cannabis that isn’t grown to pharmaceutical-grade standards.

Poster boys caught with their pants down

Canada’s well-financed medical marijuana LPs boast that they’re pioneering the very best industry standards in the world. Now this claim to fame has been besmirched.

It revealed that a controversial pesticide that’s banned in Canada had been found on an unspecified amount of Mettrum’s products.

The chemical in question is myclobutanil, which is known to emit hydrogen cyanide when smoked or heated in other ways. This comes on the heels of recent recall involving another banned pesticide, pyrethrin, which was found in some of Mettrum’s cannabis.

That’s problematic. After all, who buys cannabis for daily use to help manage a chronic health condition but doesn’t use it for at least five months?

In reality, many of the tainted products have surely been consumed already. And medical patients must now be left wondering if they’ve unwittingly ingested a health-compromising toxin.

Organigram isn’t saying what the offending chemical is. But it is reassuring its customers and shareholders that the contaminant “is not likely to cause any adverse health consequences.”

So it seems like Organigram’s customers might have less to worry about than medical patients who bought hydrogen-cyanide-laced cannabis from Mettrum.

Now that it has lost the PR high ground, it needs to try to win it back.

Hypocrisy of Big Pot?

In recent years, the federal government has favoured big, well-financed corporations to manage the legal roll-out of Canada’s medical marijuana industry. The catch is that they’re very tightly regulated.

Big Pot now consists of three dozen or so industrial-scale growers all across Canada. And they each benefit from many millions of dollars of private equity backing or big-dollar financing from the capital markets.

So, why exactly does Health Canada endorse Big Pot? It’s because the industry has committed to spending tens of millions of dollars on a science-driven approach to growing contamination-free cannabis to pharmaceutical-grade standards.

Big Pot’s sales pitch to win over medical patients at the expense of medical dispensaries goes something like the following:

You’d be crazy to buy your medical marijuana from dispensaries. Who knows where these little guys are getting their strains from? Well, actually, it’s probably mostly from organized crime. And it’s likely laced with excessive pesticide residues, which can even include illegal ones.

This isn’t the best way to manage your cancer pain. Instead, you need pharmaceutical-grade marijuana, which is what our industry specializes in. And that’s why we have the support of the federal government, unlike those dispensaries.

Now that seems like a very compelling argument — assuming it’s true. But such criticisms don’t really apply to many reputable dispensaries.

So Big Pot’s moral grandstanding just went up in smoke. Now that it has lost the PR high ground, it needs to try to win it back.

In the rush to scale-up in a hurry for a looming recreational market, licensed producers must remember not to sacrifice quality in favour of quantity. In other words, there should be no shortcuts, especially ones that
involve the illicit use of banned pesticides.

There should also be enough technological screening and scrutinizing to ensure that other contaminants don’t also tarnish the end products. After all, isn’t that what pharmaceutical-grade really means?

But this scandal isn’t likely to unravel the deal. Certainly, it won’t impact the reasons that made this acquisition strategically smart for Canopy.

And Organigram should bounce back soon enough. The company’s modus operandi remains fundamentally intact; organic cannabis seems to be the best option for medical patients with compromised immune systems.

However, Organigram now needs to pay much more attention to quality control if it’s to preserve its reputation and build its brand.

It also needs to overhaul its PR campaign — which has been dismal in the immediate aftermath of a scandal that strikes at the very heart of its much-hyped business model.

The whole industry now will be under heightened scrutiny. But it will benefit from this. After all, if Canada wants to be the standard-bearer for the world’s best-quality, contaminant-free, pharmaceutical-grade cannabis, it needs to set the highest standards.

Now’s the time to walk the talk.

In fact, Organigram, Mettrum and their competitors should take note that the whole world is watching.

Over the next decade, Canada will serve as a template for other progressive-minded nations that want to decriminalize medicinal cannabis.

So LPs need to get it right. And not just most of the time. But all of the time.

Medical marijuana firms discussed using banned pesticides

Two years before Canada’s medical-marijuana sector became embroiled in a tainted cannabis scare, the trade organization representing the majority of commercial growers explored using banned pesticides on their products, according to newly obtained documents.

Meeting minutes and confidential e-mails sent in 2015 to more than a dozen companies on the subject, show that some industry members supported using prohibited chemicals such as myclobutanil – a pesticide that produces hydrogen cyanide when combusted and can lead to serious health problems.

Though the application for approval was never carried out, myclobutanil is now at the centre of a controversy over patient safety in the sector after two companies – Mettrum Ltd. and OrganiGram Inc. – were found selling products contaminated with the banned substance.

The discovery has led to the largest recalls the young industry has seen, resulting in the destruction of more than $1-million of tainted product and it has spawned two proposed class action lawsuits on behalf of patients who unknowingly ingested the chemical.

It has also raised questions about Health Canada’s oversight of the new industry.

The industry was created three years ago by the federal government to provide safe, pharmaceutical-quality products that could be trusted by doctors and patients, including those with compromised immune systems.

While myclobutanil is known as a prohibited, potentially dangerous chemical when inhaled, the documents from 2015 show the industry contemplated using it nonetheless.

According to minutes from a Canadian Medical Cannabis Industry Association (CMCIA) conference call held in February that year, two federally licensed medical marijuana growers, Tilray and MedReleaf, were in favour of seeking federal approval for the right to use myclobutanil and were seeking broader industry support for the idea.

A third company, Thunderbird Medical, wanted permission to use the chemicals AzaMax and Spinosad, which were prohibited under federal rules.

It is not known from the meeting minutes which licensed producers, or LPs, supported the proposal and which opposed the idea. However, a Jan. 28 e-mail obtained by The Globe and Mail shows that one member of the industry group, a company called MedCannAccess, which is now owned by Canopy Growth Corp., wanted to “get input from all LPs” before proceeding.

The documents suggest the desire to use such chemicals in Canada’s medical marijuana sector was greater than originally believed. In 2015, the CMCIA represented the majority of the roughly two dozen medical marijuana companies licensed at the time. The group, which has since changed its name to Cannabis Canada Association, hired Ottawa lobbying firm Capital Hill Group to explore the pesticide approvals with the federal government.

Asked about those efforts this week, Tilray executive Philippe Lucas, who sat on the committee that organized the conference call, said he could not remember spearheading the idea. In the minutes from that meeting, Mr. Lucas is listed as the person who would “draft the letter” asking to use myclobutanil.

Reached by phone, Mr. Lucas requested The Globe send its questions via e-mail. A Tilray spokesman then followed up, saying that many licensed producers in 2015 were interested in seeking regulatory approval for using myclobutanil, which is typically used to fight costly outbreaks of powdery mildew that can devastate cannabis crops.

Sexing Cannabis Plants: Male or Female?

With our free cannabis seed giveawayit seemed appropriate after a few growers expressed concern that I should make this blog. Thanks again for constructive criticisms.

Marijuana Preflowering

Although generally considered one of the trickiest parts of growing your own marijuana, sexing is quite straightforward and will become easier as you gain more experience. The reason for sexing your plants is so that you can remove male plants before they have a chance to pollinate the females. If this occurs the females will start to develop seeds and this will divert their energy from THC production. Pollinated weed is still smokable, we’ve all had weed with seeds, but the potency will be significantly decreased.

Careful observation of flowering is the only true way to sex your plants, although you may get a clue from their growth patterns. Male plants tend to be leggier than female plants with a longer internodal length. Female plants are squatter with more leaves and a bushier aspect.

Towards the end of the summer, as the hours of daylight decrease, changing light levels will trigger your plants to produce flowers. The appearance of pre-flowers at branch junctions is what you are looking for.

Male pre-flowers should be clearly visible to the eye, although a magnifying glass will make your job easier. Male flowers form at the junctions of the branches and stem and the pollen sacs form little balls.

Female pre-flowers will also form at the junction of branches and stem and will normally start to form at the fourth or fifth branches up from the base. They are easily distinguished by the appearance of pairs of tiny white hairs, known as pistils.

At this stage your plant is just about to enter the flowering phase of growth and now is the time to remove the males if you wish to.

Flowering

As the plant enters the flowering stage its growth patterns and nutrient requirements will change. The vigorous vegetative growth will slow, stems will elongate and flower formation will begin rapidly at first before slowing. Your plant now needs less nitrogen but more potassium and phosphorous so now is a good time to add some ‘super bloom’ fertilizer. Follow the packet instructions for fruiting or flowering plants.

The female flowers will start to form kolas around the branch junctions with a main one at the growing tip of the plants. If you look closely you will see the seed pods and these will swell; either with seeds if your plant has been pollinated or with THC as false pods if you have removed the males.

As the flowers become ready for harvest the pistils will darken and the seed pods will be swollen and sticky with resin and THC trichomes

HowtoGrowMarijuana.com has a wealth of information for growers. We hope you now understand how to sex your marijuana plants. It might be worth reading some of the questions and answers made by our visitors below.